Apache Pier
Visit the Apache Pier website
The impetus for the installation of a water quality and weather station monitoring site at Apache Pier arose from angler reports in mid-July 2004 of unusually large catches of flounder, as evidenced by increased catches from the pier. Data provided by Coastal Carolina University researchers suggested significantly low levels of dissolved oxygen in nearshore waters around Apache Pier caused the anomaly, and predicted that a 10-mile stretch of water along the Grand Strand had similar low oxygen levels. The flounder, seeking water with higher levels of dissolved oxygen, migrated into the surf zone, which typically has a higher oxygen content due to wave action.
Cooperative Research, with help from Coastal Carolina University, SC SeaGrant, and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control's Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Office purchased and installed real-time water quality monitoring equipment and a weather station on Apache Pier, located in North Myrtle Beach, SC. The pier is a quarter-mile long and is the longest fishing pier on the East coast.
Continuous monitoring of the instruments by scientists at Coastal Carolina University allow investigators to monitor real-time water quality parameters, providing advance warning of any deterioratation of water quality in the area.
Placed in service in late 2006, the online site can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.
The station monitors both surface and bottom water conditions for dissolved oxygen, temperature and salinity, recording and storing the data every fifteen minutes. The weather station also relays air temperature, wind speed and direction, arometric pressure, relative humidity and rainfall totals.